Microbial contamination can be a problem in many fields of activity. Unwanted microbial populations can be a health hazard, can cause problems in pharmaceutical and food production, and can cause waste due to the harmful effects of such bioactive microbial contamination on sensitive compositions and materials. Many surfaces can contain a microbial residue of sufficiently high numbers to contaminate a sensitive product or process. Elimination or removal of such microbial residue is a desired end.
In the healthcare industry it is a common practice to clean and/or disinfect environmental surfaces, medical instruments and devices to enhance hygiene and patient safety. Effective disinfection must act against a broad spectrum of microorganisms including those resistant to common antibacterial agents. However, some high level disinfectants used for the eradication of these resistant microorganisms are corrosive to medical instruments and surfaces.
In the past, sponges, woven and nonwoven fabric and similar materials have been used as wipes and have been combined with solvent or small molecule chemistry to obtain microbial removal and micro-biocidal or static growth characteristics. Although these wipes might all have useful physical attributes, a substantial need exists in the art to obtain removal of harmful microbial populations from surfaces, with little or no risk of re-contamination or re-deposition from the wipe.